Mercury's Gate
by Thanatos34
Summary: Post-ME3 ending- Refusal option, though not following the storyline proposed by Bioware as to what happens to the next cycle. ""The destruction of a entire civilization is a long, intricate process." Vigil had once said those words to her, what seemed like an eternity ago. Now she was going to have to watch it happen to her own people. They had failed."
1. Discovery

_~Author's Note~ I know, I know. One does not attempt three stories at the same time. But this idea... this has to be put down before I forget it._

_This is chapter 1 in a larger story that will be updated after either Warrior Angel or Aftershock has been completed, whichever comes first. For now, consider it a one-shot._

_Details on Shepard and the ending to Mass Effect will become clear as the story progresses._

_Definition of Terms:_

_ruach- A breath of wind. Only used for sentient creatures, generally for insignificant ones._

_mel-keter- Metal-crusher. A small mining machine that can be "manned" by one person._

_jaber- Idiot, fool._

_veret- A small winged insect, found only on the homeworld of the Teralok race. They are so attracted to heat, they will fly directly into a fire._

_warelysh- A wrong act, a crime._

* * *

It was when he broke through the cavern wall that Nazarim knew he had something big. The Teralok had been digging down in this excavation for the past twenty night-cycles, longer than many, but also shorter than many, driven onwards by the Yahg who had been put in charge of them- Berelis. No one would dare whisper a derogatory word to the Yahg's face, for it was not for nothing that they had once conquered much of the known galaxy. Only the Nightwalkers had managed to resist their advance.

An uneasy peace had rested over the galaxy for the past three hundred rotations, but even a small _ruach_ like Nazarim knew that things were coming to a head. And this find... this was not going to help matters. The Yahg would undoubtedly claim the find, since they were technically in charge of the proceedings. The Nightwalkers would take offense to that, pointing out the slave labor that the Golden Hall turned a blind eye to, and demanding that the find be released for all the races to study.

For a brief moment, Nazarim considered not reporting the find, but his _mel-kete_r, his metal-crusher, had already broken through the wall's exterior and it would be difficult, if not downright impossible to cover it back up. And not reporting the find would be pointless if the next _jaber _to stumble across the opening would simply report it anyway. He would miss out on the doubled rations, and they would be given to whoever had reported it- and that would be if he was lucky. If he was not, Berelis would undoubtedly have his hide stripped and given to the _aklathla_.

It was only as he was turning to report his findings to the leader of his shift that he heard the unfamiliar word, in a language even he did not recognize.

There was a light, something flickering at the far end of the chamber.

Now, by all rights, he should leave immediately and report to Berelis directly, for a find of this magnitude was unprecedented. But the light drew him. On his world, the Teralok would all gather round the large lights at the center of their vast cities, their wings beating in unison as their leaders began a chant that was as old as time itself, (or so they said). And Nazarim had not been gone long enough from his homeworld to completely shake the almost irresistible feeling of being drawn, like a _veret_ to the flames.

He stepped through the hole in the wall, and in that instant, with that decision, his life-cycle was changed forever.

There were... things in the walls. Metal things, like round pods which the nymphs of the Teralok would use to change into their adult forms, shedding their old skin and bursting forth with new, glorious bodies, always done in the light of the flames. Always... except for him.

In the center of the room stood a large structure, stretching further upward into the ground than Nazarim could possibly see. At its base was a single, hovering light.

He strode towards it, his six legs covering ground much faster than many other species.

Whatever the light was, it had noticed him now. It turned towards him, becoming, in a way, less bright.

He raised all four of his hands and gave it the universal gesture for peace, palms out, five of his six fingers pointed downwards.

It clearly did not understand, even when he repeated the gesture.

The being seemed to be made of pure light. It was built extraordinarily odd- only two legs and two arms. How did this thing manage to support its weight on only two legs?

Nazarim stepped right up to it, and nearly tripped on an odd cable that ran from the great structure in the middle of the room, into the ground directly below this creature.

Since gesturing apparently didn't work, he tried speaking to it.

"The peace of the seven moons be upon you, creature of light. My bondmates call me Nazarim. By what name do you go?"

There was a whirr, a click, and a very unfamiliar language came out of the thing.

This was a puzzle indeed. If it could not speak the universal language, then how on earth was he going to communicate with it? And where had it for the past thousand planet-cycles?

Even as these thoughts flitted through his head, Nazarim was keeping one of its ears tuned to the strange creature's voice, which had not ceased since he had initiated contact. As he listened, it became more and more familiar, until finally-

"Repeat, please. Translation complete. I am now ready to engage in my task."

Well. Apparently it was a fast learner. A very fast learner. So Nazarim repeated his greeting.

The creature cocked its head and stared at him, the eyes piercing, the voice much stronger than before, seeming more alive than its first stumbling sentence in the language every creature in the galaxy spoke.

"And greetings of the seven moons to you as well, Nazarim. I have not had occasion for conversation for some time." More noises came from below, and the next sentence the creature gave voice to was laced with shock. "No! For fifty thousand years?"

It did not seem to be addressing him, so Nazarim remained silent. "You, creature! Are you ready for the return of the Reapers? How many fleets can your civilization bring to bear? How much firepower?"

He stumbled backwards, feeling hurt. It almost seemed to be accusing him of committing some _warelysh_, a thing-that-should-not-be-done.

"Answer me!" Then again, almost to itself. "It is too late. They didn't find out in time."

Nazarim stepped forward again, curious despite himself. "Find out what in time?"

The creature of light met his eyes coldly, turning away. "It is pointless. You have failed to discover the truth in time to do anything about it. It is most humorous that you have found me just as your time has ended." The next part was added so softly that if Nazarim had not been straining to hear it, he would not have caught it.

"That was a joke. It was not a very funny one, but what can one do after fifty thousand years of isolation."

He made his decision. He would return to Berelis and report about this strange creature of light, this thing in the middle of his mining tunnels. But he felt almost a kinship to it. It seemed lost, isolated from its people, just like he was.

So he repeated his original question to it. "By what name do you go, creature of light?"

It waved him off, its voice muttering again. "Pointless, it was all for nothing."

He sighed, and headed towards the exit, towards Berelis, and back to his boring, miserable life as a miner. He felt the thing's eyes on the back of his head, and as he stepped out of the circle of metal that surrounded the tower, he heard it call out to him.

"My name, creature... a very long time ago, my bondmates called me... Edi."


	2. Shadow and Death

_~Author's Note~ Again, this story will be updating sporadically, just whenever I feel stuck on the other two._

_Enjoy the chapter and please drop a review if you read._

_Note that Rel is using biotics in this chapter, her race simply likes others to think it can actually do magic._

_Definition of Terms from Chapters 1+2:_

_ruach- A breath of wind. Only used for sentient creatures, generally for insignificant ones._

_mel-keter- Metal-crusher. A small mining machine that can be "manned" by one person._

_jaber- Idiot, fool._

_veret- A small winged insect, found only on the homeworld of the Teralok race. They are so attracted to heat, they will fly directly into a fire._

_warelysh- A wrong act, a crime._

_s'gorq- A small wormlike creature that is so lacking in intelligence, it will crawl into the mouth of a predator._

_Telalith- Revered One. Used for people in positions of authority, not necessarily people that the speaker respects._

* * *

_~Shepard's Cycle~_

"The destruction of a entire civilization is a long, intricate process."

Vigil had once said those words to her, what seemed like an eternity ago. Now she was going to have to watch it happen to her own people. They had failed. The Crucible was simply more Reaper technology, and using it would have been a betrayal of everything she had stood for.

She stared into the Catalyst's depths, feeling a heavy, sinking feeling as it laid out her options.

Commit genocide and destroy an entire species. The Geth had as much right to live as anyone else. Any beings with cybernetics, including herself, would also most likely die. The amount of people this would kill would be astronomical. She would be the greatest mass murderer in history.

Merge all organics and synthetics, the option it obviously wanted her to choose. Saren's voice echoed in her skull. "I am the evolution of all organic life! A perfect merging of organic and machine, a union of flesh and steel. The strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither." She had thought that what had been done to him was repulsive then, and she still did. To force this union on all life on the galaxy, without their knowledge or consent, and only that thing's word that it would do what it said it would?

Or take control of the Reapers. She remembered the Illusive Man, how he had fallen to their influence, and wondered whether a mere human could truly take control of beings as old as the Reapers. They would shake her off eventually, or bring her around to their viewpoint. These were no real options. There was only one thing she could do.

"You ask me to make an impossible choice. I will not do this. Find someone else to be your pawn."

The Catalyst stared at her, its features impassive. "This is your last chance, Shepard. You cannot win by conventional force."

She knew that. It didn't matter. This was about something greater than that. The anger she felt at this thing boiled over, all the frustration at the sacrifice of all of those lives to get her to this point, only to find it had been part of their plan all along. She fired her pistol through its interface, holding the trigger down, until finally the rounds ran out. She stood there, mindlessly mashing the trigger even though there were no more rounds in the chamber; bloodied, furious, such anger emanating from her frail form that even the Catalyst took a step back.

It took her response as a no.

Its voice changed, becoming deeper, more familiar. The voice of Harbinger. "So be it. The cycle will continue."

Its form dissipated, scattering to the winds.

She stared up at the battle around them, the feeling of hopelessness sinking in. She would not it overwhelm her. They still had a chance. Not for this cycle, because the Catalyst was right. The Reapers could not be taken by conventional force. At least, not the amount of force this cycle could bring to bear.

But the next cycle, given proper time and warning, could possibly beat them.

She coughed, the blood spilling out through her hands. She would die in a matter of hours, maybe less, if she did not get medical attention.

And she would be damned if she was going to let these bastards get away with this.

"This isn't over, Harbinger! Do you hear me? THIS IS NOT OVER!"

The unfeeling vista of space swallowed up her words. No one heard them. But she felt better for saying them.

They still had one last chance, an option she had come up with during her isolation before the Reaper's invasion. One she never wanted to use.

She opened her omnitool, a direct link to the Normandy.

"Joker. Come pick me up. And get me a link to Admiral Hackett. Tell him it's time."

* * *

_~Nazarim's Cycle~_

The Devesh'Qar were a very strange race to Nazarim's people. He supposed they were so incredibly grumpy all of the time because of their inability to fly. None, of course, could question their ability to fight or their ability to walk through the shadows almost completely unseen and undetected- thus their more common nickname of Nightwalkers. It had been their race that had stopped the Yahg advance in its tracks. Without them, it was likely that the Yahg would be in control of the entire galaxy.

And now, they were being forced to work with the Yahg. Even the most dull-witted _s'gorq_ would be able to understand this might make a Devesh'Qar of Relaiyawren's status more grumpy than usual. She was on leave from her home planet, and made no secret of the fact that she despised the Devesh'Qar's tradition of sending their aristocracy to work menial labor for seven life-cycles as a way to make them closer to their people.

So with all that said, Nazarim was a bit more forgiving of her. Even now, when she was currently taking his head off.

"Why in the name of the seven immortals did you tell Berelis about this find first? I am your shift supervisor, you should have come to me!"

He bowed, folding all four of his hands together in a posture of supplication. "My deepest apologies, _Telalith_, I was coming to you, but Berelis intercepted me first." This was technically not true, and Nazarim sent up an apology to the Trickster for using a deception so easily.

Relaiyawren's face turned a peculiar shade of purple. Her voice became even louder, something that Nazarim's poor ears would not have believed possible. "So you tell him that you need to talk to me first! That is the protocol!"

He bowed again, but this time a small bit of sarcasm crept into his tone. "Of course. A small _ruach_ such as myself should stare down one of the Conquer-"

She snarled, showing all of her teeth, cutting him off. "NEVER call them that in my hearing, insect. Or I will crush you into paste."

He shrank back, startled at the depth of her reaction. Apparently, Nightwalkers didn't like the Yahg's common nickname of Conquerors. He stored that information for future use.

Her eyes rolled back in her head as she communed with the elders of her people. It only looked like a brief few seconds of time to Nazarim's eyes, but the Devesh'Qar were adapt at saying things succinctly, and that went double when they were communicating via thought.

Her eyes returned to their normal shape. She sneered down at him. "What's done is done. I'm going to go clean up your mess. The Yahg cannot be allowed to get a head-start on this find."

She stalked past him, heading for the chamber.

Nazarim had a very bad feeling about this.

* * *

The two Verae on guard duty looked badly shaken, as if they had been out of the water for longer than four moon-cycles. Nazarim had a pretty good idea of what had happened, and slipped past them without a word.

In the middle of the chamber, Berelis was engaged in conversation with the being of light.

Relaiyawren was heading straight towards him, and Berelis' assistants were slowly backing away from him, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.

Nazarim's excellent hearing picked up the conversation rather easily. The creature was telling Berelis about something, some race that was so powerful, that they posed a threat to every being in the galaxy. Berelis was listening, and replying, but the undercurrents in his voice were derisive. He did not believe anything could threaten the Yahg. Of course, that was no surprise to Nazarim. Berelis fit the stereotype to a t- large, willing to fight at a moment's notice, and he did not believe anything could beat him. The Yahg still claimed that they had ceased trying to conquer the galaxy because it was no longer what they desired. Who knows, perhaps they even believed it themselves.

The Yahg did not turn, did nothing to acknowledge the incoming Devesh'Qar, though he had to have heard her.

"There is nothing that can threaten the Yahg Dominion, little one." He towered over the creature, so the title may not have been an insult, but simply a statement of fact. "While I appreciate your warning, I can assure you, should this race of... Reapers show itself in our sector, they will be swiftly returned to nothingness."

The creature sighed, exasperated. Obviously, they had been down this path before. "You are as arrogant as you are stupid, yahg. Your people will be annihilated as easily as the wind blows down a blade of grass if you are not prepared."

Berelis squinted. Had this puny little thing really just called him stupid?

Relaiyawren stepped in between him and the creature before he could decide whether or not to smash it for its insolence.

She was not happy.

"Why did not you not contact me as soon as this find was discovered?"

Yahg were nothing if not blunt. "You would only get in the way. Our fleets are on their way here, and they will be here far sooner than your cowardly admiral can get here."

His comments were certainly not helping defuse her anger. "The fleet of the Devesh'Qar is far faster than your own. They will be here at the same time, despite your head start."

He snarled, shoving his face forward into hers. "And then the Yahg will crush your little fleet, and finish what we started at Relais."

She was not intimidated in the slightest. "Like what we did to you when you tried to burn the worlds of Ferelya?"

He shoved her, and despite the fact that she was ready for it, the force of the shove sent her backwards, over the coil that was attached to the creature of light's platform. And just like that, it was gone.

Berelis looked shocked for a moment, then his roar echoed around the cavern. "What have you done, Shadow? You killed it!"

Relaiyawren looked to her left, where the creature had stood. She was far more advanced in her understanding of technology than Berelis was, and she understood immediately what had happened. But now was her chance. It was time, the council had told her to keep this site free of the Yahg's influence for as long as she could. She rose to her feet, facing the Yahg, and her hands crackled with bluish-black energy. It would feel good to spill Yahg blood once again.

"It was you who shoved me into it. You are the one who murdered it. And for that, you shall pay."

Berelis saw her hands, of course. She couldn't hide the use of her shadow magic. Not its activation, anyway. And he knew what it meant. The Nightwalkers never brought up their abilities unless they were intending to kill. He tried to dodge, but the Yahg are big, heavy, and not very mobile.

The force of the blast caught him nearly square in the chest, despite his attempt to dodge. The Yahg, however, are also very resilient. It only knocked him back three paces. With a roar, he charged Relaiyawren. It was no longer time for words.

She sidestepped his advance, as he anticipated she would, and he guessed correctly that she would step away from the platform. He adjusted his angle and slammed into her, knocking her into the ground and falling on top of her. He held her down with simply the weight of his body, and pressed down on her throat with his forearm, trying to choke her to death or break her neck, whichever came first.

It was pretty sad, even for a Yahg, that he would call her by the nickname his people had given hers- Shadow- and yet forget the primary reason why they had given them that name.

The thing he had pinned on the ground grinned at him and he realized what he had forgotten. Too late. Twin blades of coalesced shadow stabbed down into his back, doing little physical damage. That didn't matter. Relaiyawren's aim was true, and both of her blades slipped under the Yahg's bones and into his heart.

The illusion that had been pinned under his body vanished, as the Devesh'Qar no longer had need of it. She stood back, breathing heavily. The Yahg's body didn't move, and she turned towards the rest of the chamber, satisfied that Berelis was dead.

Dead silence lay on everything.

Nazarim stared at her, his face aghast. Her actions may have just plunged the galaxy into another war, especially if she was backed by the Devesh'Qar elders, as he thought she was.

One of the things on the wall moved. The noise seemed ridiculously loud due to the silence in the chamber. It echoed around the emptiness.

Relaiyawren turned to look at it, as the top of it shifted off and something inside sat up.

"This platform appears to still be mobile. That is very fortunate."


End file.
